Try’em playing cards
Try’em: the U.S. Regime Change, or “52 Most Wanted Criminals” c. 2003.
This pack of 54 cards is undated and the publisher unknown. On one edge of the box are the words “52 most wanted criminals” and on the other “The US regime change playing card game”. Each card shows a photograph of mainly US politicians, military leaders, political strategists, corporate executives, media personalities and others who used “dirty trickery to build public acceptance of the [Iraqi] War of 2003”. Also included are known terrorists (Osama bin Laden). Beneath the photos are details of their history, roles, positions and the inter-relationships with each other indicated by cross-references between the cards. The suit symbols are standard except for the Hearts suit which are drawn as skulls.
![Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003](/images/countries/usa/uspcc/try-em-1.jpg "Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003")
![Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003](/images/countries/usa/uspcc/try-em-2.jpg "Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003")
Above: Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003.
A second variant of this pack is known in which some of the photos have been moved to a different suit or new characters have been added and others removed. For example, Saddam Hussein no longer appears in this deck. Further, there is no linking of relationships between the individuals as in the other pack. The wording on the 2 jokers also differs.
![Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003](/images/countries/usa/uspcc/try-em-3.jpg "Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003")
![Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003](/images/countries/usa/uspcc/try-em-4.jpg "Try’em playing cards, also known as the U.S. Regime Change [or] 52 Most Wanted Criminals, USA, c. 2003")
Above: variant version of Try’em playing cards, c. 2003.
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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